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The finger is almost okay again (strange that it is not good to support your entire body weight on the part of a drywall panel that is about to break. And that it actually breaks when breaking off and the finger hits the floor. No one could have expected that :D).

Off topic: Self-critical question. ;-) Maybe we all watch action movies too often? In those, human bodies endure a lot and can do much. Awareness of the reality of one’s own body can sometimes be lost. I have a favorite move from these movies that I practiced often (although practicing looked like just lying on the floor in front of the wall and somehow waiting for some kind of reaction from my body) and after it didn’t work for me (in the end I just stayed lying on the floor in front of the wall and hoped that my body would now climb the wall three or even just two steps, do a backflip there and come down on my feet in a fighting stance), I wanted to ask my very athletic husband to try it. But he refused. What he is good at is casually jumping over stair railings, which I can only slide down very, very slowly in a weird posture and completely tense. :)

Would you like to explain that a bit more? Unfortunately, I did not understand it. In most new buildings, I don't notice symmetry, just "randomly (?)" distributed windows in several different sizes. I probably belong to those who don't notice the difference. ;-) But I would very much like to learn.

While harmonious symmetry requires a bit of intuition and cultural education (can only be explained to a limited extent, must be acquired, definitely not downloadable as a plugin, especially not for discount points) and has more to do with balancing optical weights (a skill missing from the modern instant consumer), dogmatic symmetrism (Sümmetrieh, totally cool dude what’s up) relies on the mirror-image arrangement of elements: then the guest toilet gets a floor-to-ceiling window, just because of its axially symmetrical twin. The difference is like between "Goethe" and "fakju Göthe" (or like between "Schiller" and "chillen"), or like between a city villa and a makeshift villa.

Since my video recommendation was not approved elsewhere, I'll just post it here. It somehow fits. On YouTube or the ZDF Mediathek, the 37° documentary "Darum war unser Hausbau ein Albtraum" For some, it might be interesting.

Oh and many thanks for your encouraging words! I always try to keep in mind that it will be finished eventually and will be really nice. But inside the house it still overwhelms me. I just see everywhere what still needs to be done and my brain goes crazy.

In our self-performed renovation, it really helped to name all the still open work steps and estimate the time required (with corrections based on experience values when things didn’t fit) and above all to note the sequence. Also preferably step-by-step by room, not as one work step "Drywall ground floor + upper floor, board and plaster - 1 million working hours," but at most 10 hours per step. You can hold on to that and you can tick off something almost every day and you don’t lose track and can, if necessary, already give helpers instructions without having to think about what makes sense next.

After our renovation was completed inside 3 years ago and before hopefully a new project comes up at the turn of the year 22/23, we want to finish our house work again - also with regard to a possible sale. We have had some of the materials (EPS boards and brick slips) lying around since early 2021. Due to the wood prices and delivery times and a new self-employment of my wife, which required a lot of support from my side last year, we postponed it. I was still able to order wood comparatively cheaply in March - it will arrive in 2-3 weeks.

So this year the facade will be insulated. 16 cm EPS plinth insulation up to 80 cm above GOK or 10 cm below the windowsill, reinforced and then covered with old brick slips. Above that, 12 cm mineral wool (nothing else available) with wooden battens and floor/skirting boarding made of larch with Scandinavian window boxes. (I didn’t feel like drawing all of them, so they are missing in the sketch and I didn’t find a vertical wood pattern as texture.)

Currently, the plinth is insulated once around and the bricks at least 25 running meters / 20 m² of 35 m². Joint mortar is on the way. Downpipes will of course be new as well. The roof is old but that doesn’t matter, because the ceiling between floors is insulated and the attic is cold. So it will probably stay that way, maybe it will be thoroughly cleaned again to match the new facade.

Is the base in front of the house wall? If yes, how is it protected from rain?

Is the base in front of the house wall? If yes, how is it protected from rain?

TLDR: Yes and sufficiently.

At the moment, the base naturally still protrudes. It’s not raining here right now, but of course the insulation will be extended further upwards:

The panels on the shown side go about 10 cm into the ground. At this point there is no basement, only a foundation. I have of course waterproofed this again beforehand, the panels themselves are beveled at the bottom, reinforced, and near the ground are also treated with mineral waterproof slurry, and additionally the flexible adhesive, as a plaster substitute, goes up to the foundation. In front of that, gravel is filled in with a protective mat as splash protection.
On the back side (corner bungalow) there is a slight slope, there is a partial basement, which is already waterproofed and insulated.

From above, an EPDM membrane fixed to the old façade is applied onto the EPS base, on top of this the wooden substructure (only 12 of the 16+2 cm). At the front of the substructure a metal drip edge will be mounted, which extends about 2 cm over the bricks. Mineral wool will be placed between the substructure and at the front as a windproof protection and against penetrating rain a breathable membrane will be installed. The latter will be extended down to just before the screw points of the metal drip edge.
In front of that come battens and counter battens as well as larch floor paneling. The window sills will be made of wood and also sealed with an EPDM membrane extended from the window sill connection of the windows and pulled up several cm onto the reveals. Additionally, the window sills will have a groove on the sides in the area covered by the reveal boards to prevent sideways runoff.

If I have time and inclination, I will make a drawing about it if there is interest.